Northern British Colombia

Day 13

­­­­­Happy 4^th of July! Someone sent us a text message to wish us one. We have no idea who as they didn’t text their name and we didn’t recognize the number.

After a quick breakfast of juice, yogurt, and toast we left Prince Rupert. We drove up the Skeena River through some of the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen. A few hours later we were in Terrace, B.C where we attended the Saturday market. We purchased us a locally grown and made cedar lazy susan. We also bought our lunch there.

Afterwards we drove about 10 miles past the town to Furlong Bay on Lakelse Lake to set up camp. We had reserved a spot and it was a very nice spot in the trees and out of sight of the road.

After setting up camp we walked down to the lake. It was just like a crowded beach with people (kids) swimming, boating, water skiing etc. It was quite warm so we didn’t stay too long.

We had a nice peaceful evening after our dinner of beef stew.

Day 14

This morning we got up and showered before anyone else was up. After breakfast we relaxed a little before getting ready for church. Church was probably 15 minutes away, but we headed out an hour early. Once we got on the road, we discovered that our GPS did not recognize the street where the church was located. Patty noticed that the GPS said there was an LDS church about 60 miles away in Kitimat--so we headed out. Then another church address showed up in Terrace, but different from the one she had found on the Internet. It took us to a house where no one was home. We were about 15 minutes away from the start of church. We were both silently praying we could find where to go. I was also praying that we could get there on time. We noticed a man next to the house the GPS had sent us to and we asked him if he possibly knew where this obscure street might be. He said he did and gave us such detailed and long directions that we were lost in what he was saying in no time. But we headed out and drove straight to it arriving 2 minutes before start time. What a miracle. I cried when I saw the little converted chapel with the LDS logo.

They began as soon as we took our seats, so no one greeted us. We were reminded at the pulpit that it was Fast Sunday. We had completely lost track of the days. Of the 14 people there, 12 of us bore our testimonies. In Patty’s testimony she mentioned that she would no longer take being close to a temple for granted again. She mentioned we were about ½ mile from one temple and that another temple would soon be dedicated in our city. (In Qualicum Beach where we had last attended church they were having a temple outing that would take two days there and back---Seattle Temple). We had no idea how far away these saints’ temple might be. After 45 minutes the branch president got up to close the meeting. He alluded to Patty’s testimony saying they didn’t have it so bad because they had two temples only two days distance away.

After the closing prayer about ten people gathered around us to talk. We were talked for about 10-15 minutes and I was thinking that was the only meeting. Then someone said we better get to Sunday School. One sister invited us to her house to eat after the block. We politely declined as we would not be in town.

After we changed our clothes, we headed up the Nisga’a­­­­­ Highway to view a 300 year old lava flow that killed 2,000 Nisga’a people. They had an interesting visitor’s center inside a large tribal house.

The lava flow is pahoahoa so it is round rather than sharp. The flow goes for miles and miles. We also saw some incredible scenery. We stopped to have lunch on the banks of Lava Lake. This lake was created by the lava flow from the eruption.

On the way back I thought I saw a little bear, so Patty made me turn around so she could see it since she is such a bear person. When we turned around, a VERY LARGE bear started lumbering down the road toward us. I asked Patty if we were okay as she is the bear person. Finally it ran off the side of the road and Patty made me turn the car around again. This time we saw the little one and Patty was able to get some pictures.

We then returned to the campground and made a wonderful Sunday dinner, relaxed and went to bed early.

Day 15

We broke camp early and headed for Stewart/Hyder. These are two small towns on the Pacific Ocean. Stewart is in B.C. and Hyder is in Alaska. As we got closer to our destination the mountains started getting larger and larger. We hadn’t really seen any what I would call tall mountains before now. These mountains are so high we can’t really take pictures of the whole mountain. They just go straight up from the floor. It’s amazing. We stopped and took pictures of Bear Glacier on our way into town.

When we came to the border to go into Alaska it was definitely like going into another country. The road into Hyder, Alaska is not paved and really rocky. It is miles from any other part of the U.S. or Alaska. It is named the friendliest ghost town in Alaska. Almost everything is boarded up.

We crossed the border back and forth several times. We had to go through customs each time we entered Canada, but nothing coming into the U.S. It was weird using American money and then going a few minutes away and using Canadian money.

We checked into our room that looked awful from the outside, but is really quite nice inside. It is 75 degrees here and we are dying of the heat! We have had to bundle up since we left, but now we are sweating.

We then drove up the dirt road to a bear viewing platform. It is a little early in the season for the salmon run, so we were not able to see any bears. It is an awesome viewing platform about 500 yards long over the Fish Creek River. Patty knew that it was too early to see bears because the salmon don’t hit their peak until the end of July. But she wanted to see the orcas, which are gone by the end of June. So it was a compromise we were willing to make. It’s not like we haven’t seen bears before!

On the way back from the viewing area we stopped at a “bus” to get lunch. We got grilled garlic halibut and a pound of peal and eat shrimp. The lady that worked there said her husband caught the halibut. We ate about a 1/3 of the shrimp and brought the rest back to our room to put in the fridge for dinner.

Day 16

We got up early to make a lot of mileage today. We had to show our passports when we went into Canada.

This was the only day we did not know where we would be spending the night. Map Quest said that it would take us 11 hours to get to Jade City. It only took 7 so we decided to drive a little further on. In Jade City there is nothing but a campground and a store with tons of jade and jade items. Patty went crazy and wanted to buy out the store---but she refrained. It was a fun store.

During our drive today the scenery was again incredible. We saw three bears along the way and a moose swimming across a lake. We ended the day in Watson Lake. We got a room and went to the visitors’ center. This is the place where they have all of the license plates from around the world and signs from various places. It started when a homesick soldier (building the Alaskan Highway) made a sign with his home town and saying how many miles away from home he was. There is now a forest of signs. We should have brought one of our old license plates from home. We saw two from Utah.